System and method for automatically organizing bookmarks through the use of tag data

ABSTRACT

The present invention is directed towards systems and method for organization of bookmarks. The method according to one embodiment comprises retrieving one or more bookmarks associated with one or more content items, a given bookmark generated by a user of a client device and identifying one or more tags associated with one or uniform resource locators corresponding to the or more bookmarks. A bookmark folder hierarchy is created through use of a clustering algorithm on the basis of the one or more tags associated with the one or more uniform resource locators corresponding to the one or more bookmarks.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED REFERENCES

The present application is related to the following commonly owned U.S.patents and patent applications:

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/295,166, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,707,201B2, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGING AND USING MULTIPLECONCEPT NETWORKS FOR ASSISTED SEARCH PROCESSING,” filed on Dec. 5, 2005;

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/797,586, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,340,460B1, entitled “VECTOR ANALYSIS OF HISTOGRAMS FOR UNITS OF A CONCEPTNETWORK IN SEARCH QUERY PROCESSING,” filed on Mar. 9, 2004;

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/797,614, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,346,629B2, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SEARCH PROCESSING USINGSUPERUNITS,” filed on Mar. 9, 2004; and

U.S. Pat. No. 7,051,023, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR GENERATINGCONCEPT UNITS FROM SEARCH QUERIES,” filed on Nov. 12, 2003;

The disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein intheir entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention disclosed herein relates generally to the organization ofbookmarks. More specifically, the present invention relates to theautomatic organization of bookmarks associated with one or more contentitems through the use of tag data associated with the one or morecontent items.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The Internet provides access to an ever increasing quantity of websites, which may contain a wide variety of content items. Clientdevices, communicatively coupled to the Internet, are able to accessvarious websites which may contain images, video, audio clips,documents, etc. Access to websites is typically made available throughuse of a browser installed on a client device of a given user. The givenuser specifies a uniform resource locator (“URL”) of a content item,e.g., a website or webpage, which the given user wishes to access.

Many users of client devices who access the Internet often view hundredsor thousands of web sites or web pages during a given time period, suchas a single month. Often, users may wish to revisit a given website orwebpage that contains content the user wishes to view, listen to, etc.,at a later date. For example, a user may perform research on a giventopic and identify a website or a webpage that contains information thatthe user wishes to further review. Through use of an Internet browserbookmark, the user may store a pointer or link to the website orwebpage, allowing the user to directly access the website or webpage ata later date without having to search or spend time locating the URLassociated with the website or webpage. A bookmark to a website orwebpage may be stored by the Internet browser with which the bookmarkwas generated. Thereafter, a user of a client device may review thebookmarks stored by a given Internet browser and select a givenbookmark, causing the browser to directly access the website or webpageassociated with the selected bookmark.

Similarly, bookmarks for a given user to one or more content items maybe stored by an bookmark storage provider, such as Yahoo!. For example,the Yahoo! MyWeb® service allows users to store bookmarks to contentitems in a central network accessible location, allowing users to accessthe bookmarks from any client device coupled to the Internet. Services,such as Yahoo! MyWeb®, may also permit users to access various bookmarksgenerated and stored by their friends, family members, buddies, or othermembers of one or more social networks to which a given user belongs.

The bookmarks generated by a given user are often associated with a widevariety of content items. For example, a given user of a client devicemay access a news webpage containing an article of interest to the user.Similarly, the user may access a webpage containing a video clip of amovie the user wishes to view. Additionally, the user may access awebpage containing an image file or an audio file of particular song.The user may generate a bookmark for each of the content items in orderto gain direct access to the content items at a late date.

The bookmarks that a given user generates may be associated with one ormore keywords describing a given bookmarked content item, which may bereferred to as tags. For example, a bookmark generated for a newsarticle associated with computers may be stored with the tags“computer,” “technology,” “news,” “article.” Similarly, a bookmarkgenerated for a movie video clip may be stored in conjunction with thetags “video,” “funny,” “favorite clips,” whereas a bookmark generatedfor an audio clip may be stored with the tags “rock,” “music,” “Phish,”“awesome.”

The plurality of bookmarks generated by users of client devices aretypically stored in a simple structure, such as a flat file or folder ona storage device, and presented to a user of a client device in a listformat with the description or tag that corresponds to the bookmark.While tags and folders associated with the plurality of bookmarksprovide a means of accessing bookmarks that are described by the tag orcontained in the folder, many users have not diligently applied eitherorganizational approach to the vast majority of their bookmarks. As aconsequence, while the purpose of a bookmark is to provide a user withdirect access to a given content item, often locating a given bookmarkamong hundreds or thousands of bookmarks in a list is more timeconsuming and difficult than performing a new search via a search engineto locate the desired content item.

Current methods and systems for generating, storing, and presentingbookmarks a given user of client device thus fail to provide users withan organized structure for reviewing and accessing bookmarks. In orderto overcome shortcomings associated with existing techniques for storingand accessing bookmarks, embodiments of the present invention providesystems and methods for utilizing tag data associated with addresses(e.g., URLs) corresponding to bookmarks, thereby allowing the storageand presentation of bookmarks to users in an organized structure,facilitating efficient and direct access to bookmarked content items.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed towards systems and methods fororganizing bookmarks to content items. According to one embodiment, thepresent invention is directed towards a method for generating a bookmarkfolder hierarchy for storage and presentation of one or more bookmarksto content items. The method according to this embodiment comprisesretrieving one or more bookmarks associated with one or more contentitems, a given bookmark generated by a user of a client device, andidentifying one or more tags associated with one or uniform resourcelocators corresponding to the or more bookmarks. A bookmark folderhierarchy is generated through use of a clustering algorithm on thebasis of the one or more tags associated with the one or more uniformresource locators corresponding to the one or more bookmarks.

The method may comprise identifying a given folder from the bookmarkfolder hierarchy to which the one or more bookmarks belong on the basisof the one or more tags associated with the one or more bookmarks.Retrieving one or more bookmarks may comprise retrieving one or morebookmarks stored on a client device associated with the user. Retrievingmay also comprise retrieving one or more bookmarks maintained by abookmark storage provider. According to certain embodiments, identifyingone or more tags comprises identifying one or more tags generated by theuser of the client device. Identifying one or more tags may alsocomprise identifying one or more global tags generated by one or moreusers. The method may account for tags from any number of users, over ageographically diverse locations, which may be observed in the aggregateto determine classification strength.

A bookmark folder hierarchy may be generated through use of a clusteringalgorithm. Embodiments of the present invention may utilize a number ofdifferent clustering algorithms that are know to those of skill in theart. Clustering algorithms may include, but are not limited to, ak-means clustering algorithm, k-median clustering algorithm, a two-stepclustering algorithm, a Ward's minimum variance clustering algorithm, asingle linkage clustering algorithm. The hierarchical structure that thecutering algorithm generates may be a hierarchal tree structure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is illustrated in the figures of the accompanying drawingswhich are meant to be exemplary and not limiting, in which likereferences are intended to refer to like or corresponding parts, and inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram presenting a system for generating ahierarchal structure for one or more bookmarks associated with one ormore content items through use of tag data according to one embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary hierarchal folderstructure generated through use of tag data associated with one or morebookmarks corresponding to one or more content items according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram presenting a method for generating a hierarchalstructure for one or more bookmarks associated with one or more contentitems according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram presenting a method for utilizing tag dataassociated with one or more bookmarks corresponding to one or morecontent items to generate a bookmark folder hierarchal structureaccording to one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram presenting a method for placing one or morebookmarks in a hierarchal structure through use of tag data associatedwith the bookmarks according to one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following description of the preferred embodiments, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in whichis shown by way of illustration a specific embodiment in which theinvention may be practiced. It is to be understood that otherembodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 1 presents a block diagram depicting one embodiment of a system forgenerating a hierarchal folder structure for storing and presentingbookmarks through use of tag data associated with the bookmarks.According to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, client devices 124,126, and 128 are communicatively coupled to a network 122, which mayinclude a connection to one or more local and wide area networks, suchas the Internet. According to one embodiment of the invention, a clientdevice 124, 126 and 128 is a general purpose personal computercomprising a processor, transient and persistent storage devices,input/output subsystem and bus to provide a communications path betweencomponents comprising the general purpose personal computer. Forexample, a 3.5 GHz Pentium 4 personal computer with 512 MB of RAM, 40 GBof hard drive storage space and an Ethernet interface to a network.Other client devices are considered to fall within the scope of thepresent invention including, but not limited to, hand held devices, settop terminals, mobile handsets, PDAs, etc.

A user of a client device 124, 126, and 128 communicatively coupled tothe network 122 may access a variety of content items at contentproviders 134, 136, and 138 available on the network 122 through use ofa browser 142, 144, and 146 installed upon a given client device 124,126, and 128. For example, a user of a client device 124, 126, and 128may direct a browser 142, 144, and 146 installed upon the client device124, 126, and 128 to access a given uniform resource locator (“URL”)that identifies a location of a content item. The content item at theURL that the browser 142, 144, and 146 accesses may comprise contentitems including, but not limited to, a website, an audio file, a videofile, an image, a web page, document, etc.

The URL at which the content item is available may be bookmarked by theuser of the client device 124, 126, and 128. According to one embodimentof the invention, a bookmark comprises a reference to a given URL thatis saved by a browser 144, 146, and 148 on a client device 124, 126, and128 in response to a user request to generate the bookmark.Alternatively, the bookmark may comprise a reference to a given URL thatis saved by a bookmark storage provider 102, such as the Yahoo! MyWeb®service. The one or more bookmarks may saved in conjunction with a titleor name, which may be specified by the user of the client device 124,126, and 128 with which the request to generate the bookmark originated.For example, a user of a client device 124, 126, and 128 may frequentlyvisit the website available at www.yahoo.com. The user may wish togenerate a bookmark to the website and may specify one or more tags forthe bookmark, such as “search engine,” or “search.” A user of the clientdevice 124, 126, and 128 may select a given bookmark through use of aselection device, such as a mouse or a keyboard, directing a browser onthe client device 124, 126, and 128 to access the content at the URLassociated with the selected bookmark.

A user of a client device 124, 126, and 128 may also choose to generateone or more tags for a content item available at a given URL. Forexample, a content item available at a given URL may be displayed inconjunction with a “save” or “bookmark this!” button, providing the userof the client device 124, 126, and 128 with the capability (in the saveinterface) to generate one or more tags for the content item at the URL.Similarly, a user of a client device 124, 126, and 128 may choose toutilize a bookmark storage provide 102, such as the Yahoo! MyWeb®service, providing the user with the ability 124, 126, and 128 togenerate one or more tags for content available at a given URL.

According to one embodiment of the invention, a tag associated with acontent item available at a given URL comprises one or more terms that auser of a client device 124, 126, and 128 associates with the contentitem. For example, a content item available at a given URL may comprisean image of a sunset. A user of a client device may generate a tag forthe image comprising the terms “picture” or “sunset.” Similarly, acontent item available at another given URL may comprise a RollingStones song, for which a user may generate a tag comprising the terms“rock n roll” or “Stones.”

The one or more tags generated by a user of a client device 124, 126,and 128 for a content item available at a given URL may be delivered toa tag data store 116 at a bookmark storage provider 102. The tag datastore 116 may comprise an accessible memory structure such as a databaseor digital storage library, capable of providing for the retrieval andstorage of one or more tags associated with content available at one ormore URLs. According to one embodiment of the invention, the tag datastore 116 is operative to maintain tags and bookmarks on a per userbasis. For example, the tag data store 116 may maintain an indexidentifying a user and the one or more tags generated by the user forcontent items available at one or more URLs. According to anotherembodiment of the invention, or in conjunction with the foregoing, thetag data store 116 is operative to maintain tags and bookmarks accordingto the URL of the content item with which one or more tags areassociated. For example, one or more users of client devices 124, 126,and 128 may generate tags for a given URL, such as www.ebay.com. The tagdata store 116 may maintain an index identifying the one or more tagsgenerated by one or more users for the URL www.ebay.com, which may alsobe on a per user basis.

As previously described, the one or more bookmarks generated by a userof a client device 124, 126, and 128 may be stored by a browser 144,146, and 148 on a client device 124, 126, and 128 of a given user, or atthe bookmark storage provider 102. The browser 144, 146, and 148 withwhich one or more bookmarks are generated and stored, however, may belimited to storing bookmarks in a single folder or file, requiring auser of a client device 124, 126, and 128 upon which the one or morebookmarks are stored to traverse an unorganized list or folder to locatea desired bookmark. Accordingly, a user of a client device 124, 126, and128 may elect to utilize the bookmark storage provider 102 to generate ahierarchal folder structure for the one or more bookmarks stored on aclient device 124, 126, and 128 or at the bookmark storage provider 102.

Through use of an interface 112 at the content provider 102, a user of aclient device 124, 126, and 128 may transmit a request to the contentprovider 102 to generate a hierarchal folder structure for the one ormore bookmarks stored on the user's client device. According to theembodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, a tag component 104 at the contentprovider 102 is operative to retrieve the one or more bookmarks storedon a client device 124, 126, and 128 of a given user. For example, thetag component 104 may be operative to retrieve the one or more files orfolders in which one or more bookmarks are stored on a client device124, 126, and 128 of a given user or that the bookmark storage provider102 maintains.

The tag component 104 identifies the one or more URLs associated withthe one or more retrieved bookmarks, as well as the user generated titleor name associated with the one or more retrieved bookmarks. The tagcomponent 104 thereafter identifies the one or more tags associated withthe one or more identified URLs through use of the data maintained inthe tag data store 116. As previously described, the tag data store 116may maintain tag data generated by one or more users of client devices124, 126, and 128 for one or more URLs at which content is available(“public tag data”). The tag component is operative to retrieve the oneor more tags associated with the one or more URLs corresponding to theone or more retrieved bookmarks.

The tag component delivers the one or more bookmarks and the tag dataassociated with the one or more URLs corresponding to the one or morebookmarks to a clustering component 110. According to one embodiment ofthe invention, the clustering component 104 is operative to utilize aclustering algorithm to perform an analysis of the tag data associatedwith the one or more URLs to generate a hierarchal folder structure forthe one or bookmarks. Alternatively, or in conjunction with theforegoing, the clustering component 104 may utilize a clusteringalgorithm to perform an analysis of the tag data associated with the oneor more URLs as well as the user generated titles or names associatedwith the one or more bookmarks to generate a hierarchal folder structurefor the one or more bookmarks. According to various embodiments, thesystem may implement the clustering algorithm using a k-means algorithm,a k-median algorithm, a two-step algorithm, a Ward's minimum variancealgorithm, a single linkage algorithm, etc.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the one or morefolders generated by the clustering component 110 may be associated withor based on one or more tags. For example, the clustering component 110may generate a folder associated with the tag “web,” a folder associatedwith the tag “video,” and a folder associated with the tag “audio.” Thetags associated with the one or more folders generated by the clusteringcomponent 110 may be used to identify the one or more folders to whichthe one or more bookmarks belong.

The one or more bookmarks and the hierarchal folder structure generatedby the clustering component 110 are delivered to a hierarchy component108. The hierarchy component 108 is operative to identify the folders towhich the one or more bookmarks belong based upon the tag dataassociated with the one or more folders and the one or more bookmarks.The hierarchy component 108 may further utilize the user generatedtitles or names associated with the one or more bookmarks to identifythe one or more folders to which the one or more bookmarks belong.

The hierarchy component 108 may deliver the hierarchal folder structureto the user interface 112. The user of the client device 124, 126, and128 with which the request for a hierarchal folder structure originatedmay review the structure generated by the bookmark storage provider 102.According to one embodiment of the invention, a user of a client device124, 126, and 128 may modify the hierarchal folder structure generatedby the content provider 102. For example, a user of a client device 124,126, and 128 may elect to remove or add a folder to the hierarchalfolder structure, or modify the folder to which a given bookmarkbelongs.

The user of the client device 124, 126, and 128 with which the requestfor a hierarchal folder structure originated may thereafter save thehierarchal folder structure to the user's client device 124, 126, and128 or to a data store at the bookmark storage provider. The user of theclient device 124, 126, and 128 may utilize the hierarchal folderstructure to locate and select a desired bookmark and access a contentitem available at a given URL associated with the selected bookmark viathe network 122.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary hierarchal folderstructure generated through use of tag data for one or more bookmarksassociated with one or more URLs at which content is available. In thehierarchal folder structure illustrated in FIG. 2, the folders at thetop level of the hierarchy contain one or more bookmarks and one or morefolders associated with a given content type. For example, the “Webpages” folder 202 contains one or more bookmarks associated with URLs atwhich web page content items are available. Similarly, a “Video” folder206 contains one or more bookmarks associated with URLs at which videocontent items are available and an “Audio” folder 204 contains one ormore bookmarks associated with URLs at which audio content items areavailable.

The sub-folders within a given folder contain one or more bookmarks thatare associated with both the one or more sub-folder tags, and the one ormore tags associated with the one or more folders above the sub-folder.For example, the “Web pages” folder 202 contains the sub-folders “News”208 and “Sports,” 210 containing one or more bookmarks associated withURLs at which web page content associated with news and sports,respectively, is available. The bookmarks within the “News” folder areassociated with both the sub-folder tag “News,” 208 as well as the tag“Web pages” 202. Similarly, the bookmarks within the “Sports” folder are210 associated with both the sub-folder tag “Sports” 210 as well as thetag “Web pages” 202.

A user of a client device may traverse the one or more folders of ahierarchal folder structure to locate a desired bookmark. Upon locatinga desired bookmark, a user of a client device may select the bookmarkusing a selection device, such as a mouse or a keyboard, directing abrowser installed upon the client device to access the content availableat the URL associated with the selected bookmark.

FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of a method for generating ahierarchal folder structure for one or more bookmarks through use ofbookmark tag data. According to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, arequest to organize one or more bookmarks is received, step 302. Forexample, a request may be received from a user of a client device uponwhich one or more bookmarks are stored or a user accessing a bookmarkstorage provider. Accordingly, a bookmark storage provider may receivethe request to organize bookmarks from a client device.

The one or more bookmarks associated with the received request (e.g.,bookmarks for a given user stored locally at a client device or at thebookmark storage provider) are retrieved or otherwise identified, step304, and the URLs associated with the one or more bookmarks areidentified, step 306. Alternatively, or in conjunction with theforegoing, the containing domains of the one or more bookmarks may beretrieved or otherwise identified. For example, where the bookmarkstorage provider locates bookmark that identifies the address“news.example.com,” the bookmark storage provider may also identify thecontaining domain “example.com.”

For the one or more URLs that the bookmark storage provider identifies,which may comprise containing domains for the one or more URLs, one ormore tags are retrieved, step 308. According to one embodiment, thebookmark storage provider access one or more public tags that itmaintains in a tag data store. Alternatively, or in conjunction with theforegoing, the bookmark storage provider may access one or more privatetags that it maintains. One the basis of the one or more tags, acandidate list of folders for organization of the one or more bookmarksis identified, step 310. The bookmark storage provider may employthresholds or other techniques to prune or otherwise limit the set offolders that the candidate list comprises. For example, the bookmarkstorage provider may eliminate those bookmarks with a small number ofaggregate tags.

A clustering algorithm may be applied to the retrieved tags to generatea bookmark folder hierarchy, step 312. The bookmark storage provider mayemploy one or more clustering algorithms or techniques that are know tothose of skill in the art, e.g., the clustering systems and methodsincorporated by reference herein in their entirety, to select andorganize the candidate list of folders in to a bookmark folderhierarchy. According to one embodiment, the bookmark folder hierarchycomprises a set of one or more folders that the bookmark storageprovider selects from the candidate list, which may be through use ofthe clustering algorithm that a clustering component executers, whichcontain the greatest percentage of unfilled bookmarks. The one or morebookmarks associated with the request are placed into the folders, step314. The bookmark storage provider may be operative to place thebookmarks into the folders to optimize the relevancy of the filing ofthe bookmarks and evenly distribute bookmarks across folders in thehierarchy. According to one embodiment, when attempting to organize Nbookmarks, SQRT(N) produces a desired number of folders.

As FIG. 3 illustrates, the bookmarks storage provider may use bookmarktags to organize one or more bookmarks in a bookmark folder hierarchy.FIG. 4 presents a flow diagram that illustrates one embodiment of amethod for utilizing tags associated with one or more addresses togenerate the bookmark folder hierarchy. The process begins with theselection of a URL from a corpus of bookmarks, step 402, e.g., a set ofone or more bookmarks that the bookmark storage provider maintains.Additionally, the selecting may comprise the selection of one or morecontaining domains, collectively referred to in the present context asURLs.

The bookmark storage manager may retrieve or otherwise identify one ormore tags that the user provides for the selected URL, step 404.According to one embodiment, the bookmark tag manager identifies publictags for the URLs that the user bookmarks. Alternatively, or inconjunction, private tags that the user generates may be identified. Inaddition to the foregoing, the bookmark storage provider may alsoretrieve global tags for a given URL selected from the corpus, step 408.The system performs a check to determine if additional URLs are presentin the corpus for which the system may retrieve one or more tags, step408. Where additional URLs are present in the corpus, processingcontinues with the selection of a subsequent URL from the corpus forprocessing, step 402. Where additional URLs are not present in thecorpus for processing, step 408, the bookmark storage provider generatesa candidate list comprising one or more folders, step 410. The candidatelist may be pruned or otherwise reduced to eliminate statisticallyinsignificant folders in the candidate list.

A clustering algorithm, such as the clustering systems and methodsincorporated by reference herein in their entirety, clusters the foldersin the candidate list to generate a bookmark folder hierarchy on thebasis of tags associated with bookmarked URLs. A granularity level isset for the clustering algorithm, which may be set by an operator orsystem administrator of the bookmark storage provider, step 412. Thegranularity level controls the depth and breadth of the hierarchy, e.g.,how many top level nodes below a root node, how many subfolders toinstantiate, etc. The output of the clustering algorithm (which aclustering component may execute using the candidate list as an input)is used by the bookmark storage provider as bookmark folder hierarchy,step 414, for the organization of the one or more bookmarks.

The bookmark storage provider may place one or more bookmarks intofolders in the bookmark folder hierarchy as FIG. 3 illustrates. FIG. 5presents one embodiment of a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment ofa method for placing one or more bookmarks into the bookmark folderhierarchy, which may be made on the basis of one or more tags associatedwith a given bookmark. The process of FIG. 5 begins with the selectionof a given bookmark from among one or more bookmarks for a given user,step 502. The bookmark storage provider identifies a top level folder inthe bookmark folder hierarchy to which the given bookmark belongs, step504. The identification of a top level folder to which the givenbookmark belongs (which may be a node below a root node of thehierarchy) may be made on the basis of the one or more tags associatedwith the given bookmark.

A check is performed to determine if the current folder contains one ormore sub-folders, step 506, e.g., the check determines if any foldersexist in the hierarchy below the current folder. Where the checkevaluates to false at step 506, another check is performed to determineif the given bookmark belongs to a folder beneath the current folder,step 508, which may be a sub-folder of the current folder. Where thechecks at steps 506 and 508 evaluate to false, e.g., the systemidentifies the current folder as the proper folder for storage of thegiven bookmark, the given bookmark is placed in the current folder, step510. Where the check at step 508 evaluates to false, the systemidentifies a sub-folder of the current folder, step 512. Alternatively,where the process traverses the hierarchy to a leaf folder and is unableto identify a proper folder for storage of the given bookmark, thesystem may explore up the hierarchy to identify folders that are part ofother branches. The bookmark storage provider iterates that loop atsteps 506, 508 and 512 until a proper folder for storage of the givenbookmark is identified for storage of the given bookmark, step 510.

The given bookmark is placed in a folder in the hierarchy, step 510,allowing the user to traverse the bookmark folder hierarchy to locatethe given bookmark. The system performs a check to determine if thereare additional bookmarks for the user that require processing, step 514.Where there are additional bookmarks for the user that requireprocessing, the bookmark storage provider selects a subsequent givenbookmark for processing, step 502. Where no further bookmarks awaitprocessing, the process completes, step 516.

FIGS. 1 through 5 are conceptual illustrations allowing for anexplanation of the present invention. It should be understood thatvarious aspects of the embodiments of the present invention could beimplemented in hardware, firmware, software, or combinations thereof. Insuch embodiments, the various components and/or steps would beimplemented in hardware, firmware, and/or software to perform thefunctions of the present invention. That is, the same piece of hardware,firmware, or module of software could perform one or more of theillustrated blocks (e.g., components or steps).

In software implementations, computer software (e.g., programs or otherinstructions) and/or data is stored on a machine readable medium as partof a computer program product, and is loaded into a computer system orother device or machine via a removable storage drive, hard drive, orcommunications interface. Computer programs (also called computercontrol logic or computer readable program code) are stored in a mainand/or secondary memory, and executed by one or more processors(controllers, or the like) to cause the one or more processors toperform the functions of the invention as described herein. In thisdocument, the terms “machine readable medium,” “computer program medium”and “computer usable medium” are used to generally refer to media suchas a random access memory (RAM); a read only memory (ROM); a removablestorage unit (e.g., a magnetic or optical disc, flash memory device, orthe like); a hard disk; electronic, electromagnetic, optical,acoustical, or other form of propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves,infrared signals, digital signals, etc.); or the like.

Notably, the figures and examples above are not meant to limit the scopeof the present invention to a single embodiment, as other embodimentsare possible by way of interchange of some or all of the described orillustrated elements. Moreover, where certain elements of the presentinvention can be partially or fully implemented using known components,only those portions of such known components that are necessary for anunderstanding of the present invention are described, and detaileddescriptions of other portions of such known components are omitted soas not to obscure the invention. In the present specification, anembodiment showing a singular component should not necessarily belimited to other embodiments including a plurality of the samecomponent, and vice-versa, unless explicitly stated otherwise herein.Moreover, applicants do not intend for any term in the specification orclaims to be ascribed an uncommon or special meaning unless explicitlyset forth as such. Further, the present invention encompasses presentand future known equivalents to the known components referred to hereinby way of illustration.

The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fullyreveal the general nature of the invention that others can, by applyingknowledge within the skill of the relevant art(s) (including thecontents of the documents cited and incorporated by reference herein),readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specificembodiments, without undue experimentation, without departing from thegeneral concept of the present invention. Such adaptations andmodifications are therefore intended to be within the meaning and rangeof equivalents of the disclosed embodiments, based on the teaching andguidance presented herein. It is to be understood that the phraseologyor terminology herein is for the purpose of description and not oflimitation, such that the terminology or phraseology of the presentspecification is to be interpreted by the skilled artisan in light ofthe teachings and guidance presented herein, in combination with theknowledge of one skilled in the relevant art(s).

While various embodiments of the present invention have been describedabove, it should be understood that they have been presented by way ofexample, and not limitation. It would be apparent to one skilled in therelevant art(s) that various changes in form and detail could be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.Thus, the present invention should not be limited by any of theabove-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only inaccordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

1. A method for generating a bookmark folder hierarchy for storage andpresentation of one or more bookmarks to content items, the methodcomprising: retrieving one or more bookmarks associated with one or morecontent items, a given bookmark generated by a user of a client device,the one or more bookmarks retrieved from a network-based bookmarkstorage provider; identifying one or more user generated tags appendedto one or more uniform resource locators corresponding to the one ormore bookmarks, wherein the one or more user generated tags comprise oneor more keywords generated by one or more users that describe the one ormore content items associated with the one or more bookmarks, the one ormore user generated tags identified from the network-based bookmarkstorage provider; generating a candidate list of folders for the one ormore bookmarks based on the one or more user generated tags; selectingone or more candidate folders from the candidate list of folders;generating a bookmark folder hierarchy with the selected one or morecandidate folders automatically through use of a clustering algorithm onthe basis of the one or more user generated tags appended to the one ormore uniform resource locators corresponding to the one or morebookmarks, the bookmark folder hierarchy defining a hierarchy of thefolders having bookmarks therein, the clustering algorithm performing ananalysis of data associated with the one or more user generated tags;traversing through one or more bookmark folders in the bookmark folderhierarchy; identifying the one or more bookmark folders in the bookmarkfolder hierarchy to which the bookmark belongs based on tag dataassociated with the one or more folders, tag data based on the one ormore user generated tags from the bookmark storage provider; and placingthe one or more bookmarks in the one or more identified folders.
 2. Themethod of claim 1 comprising identifying a given folder from thebookmark folder hierarchy to which the one or more bookmarks belong onthe basis of the one or more user generated tags associated with the oneor more bookmarks.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying one ormore user generated tags comprises identifying one or more tagsgenerated by the user of the client device.
 4. The method of claim 1wherein identifying one or more user generated tags comprisesidentifying one or more global tags generated by one or more users. 5.The method of claim 4 wherein the clustering algorithm comprises ak-means clustering algorithm.
 6. The method of claim 4 wherein theclustering algorithm comprises a k-median clustering algorithm.
 7. Themethod of claim 4 wherein the clustering algorithm comprises a two-stepclustering algorithm.
 8. The method of claim 4 wherein the clusteringalgorithm comprises a Ward's minimum variance clustering algorithm. 9.The method of claim 4 wherein the clustering algorithm comprises asingle linkage clustering algorithm.
 10. The method of claim 1 whereingenerating a hierarchal structure comprises generating a hierarchal treestructure.